I rubbed my hands over my face and squeezed my eyes closed, searching for a clue, anything I could pick up on in the bar before she disappeared. Was someone watching her? Did they follow her to the bathroom? Nothing out of place. But the girl had distracted me.
Headlights flashed and then faded as they drowned in the seedy night. A couple walking hand in hand laughed, in love and oblivious to the chaos. It was shocking to me how we could be standing so close, walking on the same pavement, and their world was perfect while ours was falling apart.
There was only one way I could think of to end it all, to get Georgie back. “We do a trade. If she has her and she’s …” I couldn’t finish the word, couldn’t bear to sayalive, couldn’t bearto think about the heartbreak if she wasn’t. “We trade me for her.”
Karson’s eyes blazed. “Absolutely not!”
“I am not letting her die.” I walked off. “She wants revenge on you and I’m it, so we’ll trade her and the book for me.”
“No.” He gripped my arm, pulling me to a halt. “There is no way I will allow that. You are not sacrificing yourself for anyone.”
“It’s not your choice. It’s my decision. It’s my fault we are in this mess. I took her out. I should have made her stay in the house.” Then she’d have protection, she’d be safe in bed by now.
“It is not your fault.” Guilt shadowed his features, before he looked away into the distance and said quietly, “If you want to blame anyone, blame me.”
My heart tugged at the torment he was going through. Blame was pointless, arguing was pointless. He wouldn’t let me go, and he was much quicker than I could ever hope to be, so there was nothing I could do to escape. Right now.
Leon and Pixie emerged into view. Their eyes fell to me as they stopped a few meters from us, their faces filled with sympathy.
“We have checked all the bars in the three surrounding blocks,” Pixie said. “There’s no sign of her.”
“And I’ve made some calls,” Leon added. “We have people all over town keeping an eye out, so if she’s here, she will turn up soon. Has anyone checked the bus stops?”
Karson shook his head. “No, not yet. Check those and report back. Then keep searching every place you can think of. Communicate with each other so you aren’t all checking the same places.”
“Already sorted,” Leon said, straightening his shoulders.
“Any news from Challis?”
“They had quite a few pickups and drop-offs in the area, so it’s taking some time.”
“Keep me updated.”
Leon nodded, then they disappeared down the alleyway.
Karson wrapped his arm against my lower back and guided me to the car.
“Caron, can she track, would she be able to do it without them breaking the cloaking spell?” I asked as we drove through the city, my eyes glued out of the window.
“She can track, but no one can track her until the spell is broken and BJ’s mother and her sister are as powerful in that area as you can get. If Georgie can be tracked, they will do it.”
“Why wouldn’t she be able to be tracked once they uncloak me?”
He kept his eyes straight ahead. “The spell they placed on you both to keep you hidden is tied by blood leeched into the earth and buried, and it has to be dug up. It’s hard to draw it all back out and makes tracking difficult. The only fast and certain way to break a spell is to kill the witches who cast it.”
I stiffened as I jerked my gaze to him.
“I’m not going to murder BJ’s family,” he drawled.
I relaxed, guilt tugging at my chest for thinking he would. “You were making sure Sarah couldn’t find us if we had to flee?”
“Yes, if we need to hide you someplace other than home.”
“Sarah, is she cloaked too?”
“Yes.”
“She’s working with a witch for certain, then.”
